The global spread of COVID-19 and the rising number of coronavirus cases in Africa are fuelling anxiety about negative economic growth, failing healthcare and collapsing food systems We are facing great uncertainty on the African continent. The global spread of COVID-19 and the rising number of coronavirus cases in Africa...
As health workers across the globe battle to slow down spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, all measures must be taken to ensure that people have food now, in the recovery period, and beyond to ensure that the pandemic will not spawn food crises which affect poor people...
Ever since the outbreak of coronavirus, otherwise known as COVID-19, in Wuhan China in December 2019, the global economy has never been the same. The novel coronavirus has caused so many deaths around the world, with Europe currently being the epicentre of the disease. The World Health Organisation (WHO)...
A  vegetable farmer sits on his land. Vrinda Khushu/Wikimedia Commons The Green Revolution – the introduction of new higher yielding seed varieties, increased use of fertiliser, irrigation and other mechanisation introduced since the 1960s – brought about a great increase in crop yields in some countries in the Global...
The use of child labour on cocoa farms in top producers Ivory Coast and Ghana has risen over the past decade despite industry promises to reduce it, according to a draft of a U.S. government-sponsored report seen by Reuters. More than 2 million children worked in the sector last season...
There are those who dread the idea of going into farming. For some, it will never be part of their career options in life. For others, they fear they can never make enough money from it to take care of their needs and their families’. But one lady has...
Innovation is what is driving today’s world. That is why businesses are told to innovate or die. One area where innovation is really needed on our continent is the agriculture sector and a lot of startups are trying in this regard. This week, the B&FT’s Inspiring Startups caught up...
As the country’s economy recorded impressive growth of 8.5 percent in 2017, the highest ever in five years, the sector that has been touted as the economy’s backbone—agriculture—continues to see its contribution to GDP decline. The sector’s contribution to GDP in 2017 dropped from the 18.9 percent recorded in 2016...
Nearly half of the businesses that are expected to start operations under the One District, One Factory (1D1F) will focus mainly on agro-processing. According to the Deputy Trade and Industry Minister, Robert Ahomka-Lindsay: “About 46 percent of the businesses that are bankable are agro-processing companies; and we shouldn’t be surprised,...
A sustainable solution to the dwindling fortunes of agriculture will require a comprehensive national strategy that will outlive political parties in government, Dr. Jerry Kombat Monfant, an economic strategist and President of MBIC Group of Accountants and Business Advisors, has said. “I am of the view that we must have...